Why is my Child’s School Telling me they DO NOT Provide a Diagnosis Through Learning Disability Evaluation?

There are many nuances for parents to understand as they embark on the road of requesting psychoeducational evaluations for suspected learning differences through a public school, one of those is that the school is NOT required to provide a diagnosis of a learning disability-the school’s role is to determine eligibility for special education services, which are two VERY different things.

If you are interested in seeking a diagnosis of a specific learning disability to better understand your child’s learning style, needs, appropriate curriculums, delivery models, methodologies- seek a private evaluation and diagnosis.  Please contact My Learning Farm, I have a great private licensed child psychologist who provides the most in-depth evaluation, analysis and next steps at an affordable price. You can take the evaluation report to any public school and the public school has to accept it, but your child's school may want to administer 1-2 evaluations as well to ensure testing validity.  Please contact My Learning Farm for advocacy support to ensure this process is smooth for your child, parents and school.

The school’s responsibility through the evaluation process is to determine eligibility for special education services based upon the DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual for Mental Disorders, fifth edition).  The school must administer a comprehensive evaluation which includes an appropriate cross-battery of tests; observations; parent input; teacher interviews and behavior scales across practictioners. Using this comprehensive testing model helps to determine if your child’s scores fall within the eligibility criteria listed in the DSM-5.  The DSM-5 lumps all learning disorders into one general name: Specific Learning Disability.  The school can create a learning plan tailored to your child’s areas of weakness for special education, but it will NOT include a diagnosis, if your child qualifies for specialized academic instruction through an IEP or a 504 plan.

I hope this clarifies why your child's

school is saying they will not provide a diagnosis of a learning disability for your child.  Please reach out to My Learning Farm www.mylearningfarm.com for additional questions.